Our local computer club provides free help to people in the community. Recently they sent out an email saying this:

I have now helped 6 people with a virus that has been infecting iPads. The message appears on the iPad screen stating that your software has crashed and you need to call Microsoft to repair it. The number to call is 1-855-720-2636. People who have called the number were told that they would have to pay $130.00 to get rid of it.The message stays on the screen and you can't get rid of it. This has affected iPhones as well. If you have this problem call me and I'll help you get rid of it For FREE.

I groaned when I saw that and immediately shot back that this is not a virus but simply a Javascript browser hijack and that it is easily fixed by closing Safari and doing Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data.

To my surprise, I later got this from the author of the warning:

I know it's not a virus, you know it's not a virus but it has been my experience that most people do not understand what Java Script Hijack means therefore I keep it very simple for them.

Sigh.

Keeping it "simple" causes very wrong impressions of what this is and what it can do. It also can cause stupid rumors to spread: "Oh, don't buy an iPad - they have viruses!".

Nor is it iPad related. Javascript hijacks like that happen on ALL platforms: Windows, Android, Apple computers - it's the browser, not the operating system!

I also don't think we should be deciding what people can or cannot understand. I agree that some of the people who seek help from that club are not capable of following even simple instructions or are too lazy to want to. But that's not the case for all and it's also true that assuming incompetence creates incompetence.

I've always taken the tack of explaining things like this fully (or at least providing a link to somewhere that explains) and then politely offering to provide direct assistance if needed. I think that's the best way to do it.

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Younger readers may not know that until the 1990's, software could not be patented. I'm of the opinion that it should have remained that way.

There has been some recent pushback and it is certainly possible that court opinions will change, but really we need to reexamine the patent system in general. I think it often does more harm than good. I'm not saying we should abandon it entirely, but I do think that overly broad patents should not only be denied, but be punishable as they hinder commerce. I also think that the length of patents should vary with the industry. Perhaps tech patents for consumer goods should have a shorter lifetime than miracle drugs or vice versa and both should be shorter than they are now.

As to patenting genes and GMO products, I think that's both ridiculous and dangerous. For example, a recent decision denied a gene patent because genes are "products of nature". Well, what isn't? An improved light bulb works because of the physics of its materials - where's the true difference and where do you draw the line?

We need change.

Can we patent products found in nature? It's complicated.

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I was never a fan of my public library. When I was young, I found the books in my own home to be all I usually needed. Of course not everyone has a home chock full of books and reference materials, so I was very lucky to have that.

When I was older, I found that the library still did not meet my needs. First, the technical books I wanted were seldom available. I might be able to request them from a larger library, but that took time. I also had to return the books and with most of these, I wanted them available longer. So my books came from bookstores, physical at first but later from the Internet. Again, of course I had the money to do that and not everyone does.

Because of that "not everyone does", I absolutely support my tax dollars supporting libraries. However..

Most library activity is entertainment, not research, not knowledge. It's still difficult, even with SAILS, to find good technical books. Romance novels, detective stories, sure, hundreds of those. But the tech side is weak at best.

So my question is this: would the general public support libraries if all that entertainment went away? I don't think they would, because most people don't really care about anything else. They'll SAY that they think their library is a valuable resource, but I think that's mostly lip service.

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Is stock trading doomed?

Brace yourself: We may be headed towards a world dominated by a handful of tech corporations vying with each other to develop the best AI prediction algorithm.

That's from "Microsoft Bing Predicts and the future of gambling" at ExtremeTech. That article discusses how Microsoft Bing correctly picked winners for week one of the NFL season. That's groundbreaking, but the stuff about computer trading has been going on for some time now. People are still arguing as to whether it has caused market crashes, but there's no doubt that the best software with the quickest Internet connections has great advantages over anyone else.

A lone wolf day trader probably isn't going to do well against that. Without access to a firehose of data and the software to analyze it, he or she won't be able to compete at the same level.

I'm not sure what that means for the rest of us.

Microsoft Bing Predicts and the future of gambling

Algorithmic trading

Bing Predicts

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I use Apple computers, tablets and phones. I have long been disdainful of Microsoft and its incredibly crappy operating systems, so this is going to be a surprising comment: I do not hate Windows 10.

I will quickly add that I'd still rather have a Mac and I honestly think that you would too if you gave it half a chance, but I have to admit that if you do go the Windows 10 route, you aren't doing anything horrible. You'll probably like it. Unlike every previous version of Windows I have had the displeasure to experience, Windows 10 is quite decent.

I upgraded and existing Windows 8 machine that had previously been Windows 7 running in Parallels Desktop on my iMac. I say "running" with tongue slightly in cheek because I rarely fired it up except when I needed to figure out why some friend or customer was having problems with their own system. The virtual machine was always somewhat slow and that only increased my frustration levels, so I avoided it other than for those reasons.

This week I let Microsoft convert me to Windows 10. My expectations were low because I have been prejudiced by years of junk from the fine folks at Redmond. I didn't pay attention to how long the upgrade process took, but I do know it was shorter than I expected.

After it was complete, I logged in with trepidation, expecting not to be able to find anything. I was prepared to Google and be highly annoyed.. but I was not. The system was crisp and clean and I had no trouble finding anything. I was particularly impressed by how responsive it was, even though hampered by running in a virtual machine. That usually guarantees substantial performance degradation, but I honestly did not notice any.

So there it is. I do not hate Windows 10 and I am as surprised as you are.

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So Microsoft has now introduced a laptop. I wonder how Dell et al. feel about that? But never mind slapping your distribution chain in the face, what's this nonsense about luring us away from Apple?

Let's pretend for one silly minute that Windows actually was competitive with Mac OS X. It is not, of course, but let's pretend that I could actually do my daily work with the same ease that I can now on my Mac. Let's further pretend that the Surface Book was half the price of a Macbook (it isn't) and was as carefully crafted and would last twice as long. Yeah, I know: utter nonsense, but go along with me.

So, with all that going for Microsoft, would I be "lured"? No, I would not, because I'm lazy and set in my ways. That's the same reason very few Microsoft users will give up Windows even if they are smart enough to see the better world offered by Apple. It's a pain to switch; you have to learn new stuff and unlearn new habits. It would take a lot to convince many people to do that.

Microsoft is staggering along, weaving this way and that. It might survive, but that won't happen by trying to compete with Apple and Google in hardware or OS software. Microsoft's day in those areas is done.

Microsoft bets Surface Book can lure you away from Apple

Microsoft's retail store chain flounders in stark contrast to busy Apple Stores

Microsoft's new Windows phones: They'll have to do for now

Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book mean business, but no big threat to Apple

Microsoft to PC Partners: We Still Love You

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The link below advances the idea that doctors and lawyers may lose their jobs to AI before many other professions.

Doctors and lawyers are much easier to automate than street sweepers. In fact, one of the big successes of machine learning is that you can take a simple algorithm, give it a database of patient records and it learns to diagnose diabetes or breast cancer better than people who have spent years in Med school.

At first that shocked me. After all, don't the words "brilliant" and "doctor" juxtapose often? How many times have you heard "brain surgery" used as an example of intelligence? To a lesser extent, lawyers - at least the highly succesful ones - get similar treatment.

Yet isn't surgery just dexterity combined with knowledge? Isn't medical diagnosis mostly a matter of having a prodigious memory? The same could be said for legal work.

We are already starting to see some of that in both fields. Paralegals are being replaced by computers and computer surgery is already becoming common. It's happening.

However, I think that neglects the political component. The minimum wage worker who loses their job to AI has little political power. Doctors and lawyers are quite a different class. I am quite certain that neither will allow their livelihoods to be taken over by AI. They'll fight politically by enacting legislation that ensures their jobs - they aren't going to end up unemployed.

Your thoughts?

How Artificial Intelligence Will Revolutionize Our Lives

The Era of Mass Employment Is Ending

Why a fruit sorting robot will disrupt industrial automation

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I walked out of my poker game a few months ago and have not been back - well, stormed out would be more accurate. I was angry and loud as I left. What caused my eruption was another player's insistence that poor people are lazy folk who don't try hard enough to succeed.

Why did that make me so angry? Part of it was how he said it: "po' people", imitating a Southern accent he doesn't posses naturally. He repeated that several times, making me angrier each time. He mixed in a few references to Obama, making it plain to me that racism underlay at least part of this. That certainly contributed to my anger.

But most of it is that such attitudes are just plain stupid.

It would easy for me to have the same attitude. I began my adult life as a high school dropout with a crummy job. But, through hard work and a lot of luck, we ended up living very comfortably in the top 5% of U.S. income for a good part of our life. It would be easy for me to sneer at those who live from paycheck to paycheck and struggle to make ends meet. I made it, why couldn't they?

It's because I benefitted from privilege. It's because I'm smart and it's easy for me to understand things that befuddle others. It's because I've been lucky and healthy. It's because I worked hard, yes, but that's probably the least of it: plenty of people work hard and do not succeed.

There's a cartoon I linked to below that explains some of that. It doesn't tell the whole story, though. It graphically explains the benefits that come from not being born poor, but it misses other things. People can get sick or have congenital problems that affect their ability to work. Not everybody is smart enough to have a good paying job.

Adding to all that is plain old dumb luck. Most of us experience some good and some bad luck, but some people get more than their share of one or the other. Yes, yes, sometimes we do make our own luck and I know that as well as anyone, but there are things we simply cannot control. While privilege and talent can buffer a lot of bad luck, it doesn't take much of it to destroy the hopes and dreams of those starting on the bottom.

For example, I made a business mistake once that put me $100,000 in debt. I recovered, but do you think a minimum wage earner could? My wife's working career was cut short by illness, decreasing our expected retirement funds greatly. We survived that too, but what if we both had been sick or injured by accident? What if I had more ordinary intelligence? What if my mistake had been greater?

Our children were healthy and bright, What if it had been otherwise? How much of our income would have been sucked away by that? Suppose I or my wife had died or we had divorced? Would we still have been so well off?

Sometimes people do well for part of their life but then become unemployable because of illness or because their skills have become irrelevant and unneeded. Some are lucky enough to be at or near retirement age when that happens, but others are not. Some folks worked hard all their lives and expected the promise of a pension to fund their retirement, but became poor when others decided not to keep that promise.

Most poor people are struggling against the tide. I detest those who think that their own success was from their own will alone and that anyone should be able to rise out of poverty.

This Comic Will Forever Change the Way You Look at Privilege/

Explaining white privilege to a broke white person

Henry Blodget Now Gets It – Rich People Do Not Create Jobs

Most Of The Rich Are Undeserving Of Their Wealth & Income

Is income inequality really fantastic?

If your business can't pay a living wage, it isn't a business

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